Something that I have been seeing more and more of lately is people becoming totally self centered to the point that you cannot have a conversation with them where they don’t go on and on about themselves and stories that relate to them. Are you really that interesting that I have to hear all about your life and other not-so-awesome stories when we were talking about movies? Because I sure love it when you turn every conversation back to yourself, even if the issue I was talking about was quite important. It isn’t that hard to be respectful to others, especially those that you consider to be your friends.
I often find the best conversations that I have been in are those that have a good flow between the two people. I would talk and share my point while the other person respectfully waited until I finished. Then they would say what they were going to say, either in response to my point or on another topic completely. Besides, don’t you enjoy when somebody listens to you? Then repay the favor to the person that you are chatting with. If you are good friends with the person then I think that you would respect and want to listen to most of their opinions on different subjects.
Let us take the example of discussing the themes and elements in a movie that both of you just recently watched. You are talking about how quirky and awesome a side character in relation to the show. If the self centered person decided to go on a tangent about a personal story and then brings it back to discussing the movie then that is perfectly fine. But if they continue to bring up unrelated anecdote after anecdote then you just want to end that conversation and do something else. It is like talking to a brick wall that thinks it is the Great Wall of China when in actuality it just encloses some garbage cans. These people are incredibly frustrating to talk to and in the end it is better just avoid conversation with them because you already know how both of you will feel after you walk away. You will be disgruntled at their ridiculous amounts of vanity and the other person will feel as if they just had another normal conversation.
Would you like to interject on this subject? I feel that I have been rambling for quite some time. And if so I apologize.
I agree. And this is just one reason why a lot of people aren't worth talking to. You see what they're about, and there's nothing you can do but walk away, and never bother to come back, unless you really want to hear about how crazy last Friday was (AGAIN), or about that one time Joe Blow got drunk and did this or that, etc.... I think people just like talking about themselves and their experiences the most because they find it so much easier than talking about anything else that requires a higher level of thinking. And, people enjoy talking more than listening, because talking requires less thought than actually listening. It is my guess that people are so lazy these days, they choose not to think more than they feel they have to.
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